Tilia 'Harvest Gold'

A selection made in 1988 at the Morden Research Station, Manitoba, Canada, by Wilbert Ronald and James ‘Rick’ Durand. It was initially protected by US Plant Patent 12232P2 from 1999. It is a seedling from a tree obtained as seed in Manchuria in the late 1930’s by Dr. Frank Skinner, which was considered to be a distinct form of Tilia cordata (Google Patents 2020). It seems likely to us that this was not T. cordata as currently understood, which is not native to northern China, but rather T. amurensis; we have not however seen this parent tree. The male parent is thought to be a nearby specimen of T. mongolica as implied by its golden buds, exfoliating bark, thin leaves, and early autumn leaf colouration (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014; Google Patents 2020). It is marketed as a tree for street planting, with an upright, rather narrow crown, and is available on both sides of the Atlantic.

Another of Ronald’s linden cultivars, the widely marketed ‘Golden Cascade’, is derived from a similar (or indeed the same) Manchurian introduction, and similar questions apply (see T. cordata ‘Golden Cascade’).